The Spawn of Lexstrazian
A week passed since the event at Boria. The ruins still smoked from the fires that had raged through the nights. Traversing the rubble were five people, attempting to bring the outpost back into working order. As the sun rose higher in the sky, a voice seemed to whisper to them from across the courtyard… “Greetings…” The excavators looked around them in confusion. They were the only ones there, the only ones who would even come to this now desolate place. The voice continued on. "I was a Farseer of the Gala tribe, a native to this very land before the Omera legion invaded our lands. This was before your father’s father was even conceived…” A figure seemed to appear out of the dusty air, clothed in the cloak of a shaman, its face was hidden from the excavators by a hood. Though the heroes were wary, they were not afraid, for this figure did not seem threatening… but rather mournful. “The Dune Mother was said to have blessed our race… but somehow we must have angered her” the shaman sighed. “She has forsaken us… but, be that as it may, I have a vision for you of the coming apocalypse…. And I must warn you… you must not use the True Shatterer to slay the beast Xariv, for within his heart lies the child of Lexstrazian. He or she will become your new god, but ONLY if you save it.” One of the onlookers stepped forth. “Our new god? How can this be that the gods can bear children? Are they not above mortal men?” The figure answered his question, “yes, they are not like mere mortals, but Lexstrazian was no normal goddess either. You cannot even comprehend how much she thought of us creatures… yes perhaps more so than any of the other gods to their creations. She foresaw her demise, but was not prepared to leave you, even with the Cloud Serpent to guard you. She split her soul and powers and bound them together into a container. An…egg shall we say. This spawn, her child, will be born and will gain all of her powers. But, once bound, it was able to be taken and after her death it was stolen from the Guardian by Xariv’s minions.” The figure stepped closer. “Now, let me show you what will happen to your world should Xariv be allowed to raise the child….” The heroes looked at each other in unison, and then nodded. Instantly, they were in another land, one where the sky was orange with smoke and debris. The air stunk of rot and death as the land they stood upon lay dead, devoid of all life. The heroes looked around them in horror, hardly even noticing that the clothes they wore were now bloodstained armor. A voice rose up around them as they examined each other. “Now my son… destroy them….” “Yes, father….” Another voice answered. “Attack!” it commanded. Rising from the shadows rose warriors of darkness, created from the Spawn’s own black heart. They attacked the heroes who fought back. But they were severely outnumbered. Suddenly, other figures came out from the shadows. It was their friends! Their companions! But they seemed like ghosts, their forms rippling in their movement as they attacked the shades. Now with sides evenly numbered, the battle was quicker, though many fell on the heroes’ side. The Spawn casually took out an egg. “Do you see this? I have taken the Ender guardian as my slave. I have forced her into mating with me for quite a while now to spread my corruption…” He threw down the egg instantly spawning a dragon. But the beast it birthed was sick, a weakling. And when faced with the mass of heroes before it, it quickly fled squealing in fear. The god was not surprised. “A simple welp, not even comparable to my son… he conquered the Aether in a single invasion.” The god raised a horn and blew a single blast. It was answered in mere moments by a ferocious roar. A massive dragon landed with a ground shaking crash. The dragon, twisted from the corruption within, raised its thorned wings and bellowed at the sprawled heroes. “Uraxic, my son…. Quite the monstrosity isn’t he?” the god laughed as the dragon rushed the defenders. It trampled the ones unprepared as the rest attacked, weapons sliding off uselessly against the thickly scaled flesh. Its’ breathe aflame it burned the rest as it climbed into the sky. As it dove to make another pass, the remaining archers took aim… and fired. The arrows struck against its flesh, bouncing off, but a single arrow hit its mark, Uraxic’s eye. The dragon, blinded, screamed with the pain as it fled back into the Aether. “COWARD! I’ll kill them my-“ The dream ended. The five woke up, sprawled out across the ground. They found themselves blinded once more by the brilliant sun in the ruins of Boria. “Now, you see? The consequences of what will happen are severe should you fail. You cannot just kill Xariv, you must save the child as well and bear it into a better life. This… is your….mission….farewell….” The figure faded, never actually there. A spirit in form only, it had come to warn of a terrible threat to the new inhabitants of its land. The five watched the spirit leave, then turning ran to tell their friends the vision they had just witnessed…